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Recycling Services

Bins need to be presented ready for collection prior to 6am on collection day.

The Council's residential kerbside recycling collection service is provided under contract by Cleanaway Pty Ltd. Residents have the option of a 240 litre mobile bin or a 360 litre mobile bin or multiples thereof for the collection of materials which include: Paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminium and steel cans, and plastic containers. A 140 litre bin is offered in certain circumstances.

Get It Right On Bin Night

Top tips for getting it right

Getting it right is easy – just follow these simple steps;• Know what you can recycle• Check for recycling in every room

Many items in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry, lounge and study can go in your recycling bin. Find out what you can recycle.• Make sure items are empty• Items don’t need to be sparkling clean, just empty. Remove solids food scraps like pizza and leftovers.• Keep recycling out of plastic bags

Remember, if you put your recycling in plastic bags it may end up in landfill because it can’t be sorted and recycled.• Polystyrene foam packaging – place in your rubbish bin• Ceramic and glass waste (non packaging) such as cups, crockery, drinking glasses, Pyrex glass, ovenware, window glass and mirrors, should be wrapped (if broken) and placed in your garbage bin. If the items are in good condition, contact your local charity shop to see if they would like them or hand the on to friends or family.• Scrap metal items like car parts – go to one of the three waste facilities located in Myrtleford, Porepunkah and Mount Beauty.

Used or unwanted mobile phones

Recycling your old mobile phone is now easier, with Council joining the nationwide MobileMuster program.

Collection points have been established in the area and local residents are encouraged to clean out their drawers of unwanted mobile phone, batteries and accessories.

MobileMuster is the official recycling program of the mobile phone industry, and is funded by 16 leading mobile phone manufacturers and network carriers.

Key mobile recycling facts:· Australians upgrade or exchange their mobile phones every 18 to 24 months, meaning there are approximately 16 million unused mobile phones stashed away at home or in the office.· Over 90% of materials in mobile phones can be recovered such as nickel, cadmium, cobalt, gold, silver, copper, plastics and other metals.

Used batteries

Please drop off used batteries (no car batteries please) at any Aldi store. The closest Aldi stores are in Wangaratta or Wodonga. The batteries will then be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

The Alpine Shire Council is no longer able to collect batteries at this stage. We are working to make this service available again in the future.

The program has recently been remodeled with subsequent changes including 31 locations across Australia to receive a mobile collection service at the same location and time every year, and an extra 18 new permanent sites (currently 12 sites) across Victoria. The permanent sites will accept paint, appliance batteries and compact fluorescent lamps whilst the annual mobile sites will accept house hold chemicals.

The closest permanent drop off centre to the Alpine Shire will be Wangaratta. The site is expected to be operational by the end of the year. This location will also be the site for the annual chemical collection.

In this new program design, Alpine Shire will no longer receive an annual ‘Detox your home’ mobile service and therefore Council will no longer be able to offer a drop off point for appliance batteries at our three service locations at the Bright Shire Offices, My Beauty and Myrtleford Library.

Council has liaised with Sustainability Victoria at length explaining the difficulties and inconvenience this places on Alpine Shire residents who want to do the right thing by disposing of these items in an environmentally friendly way. Sustainability Victoria will be reviewing the new model and have said that they will keep this in mind when they do their review in a few months’ time. Council is hoping to reinstate the battery collection bins in the near future.

In the meantime, Council will be removing the battery bins and ask residents to please drop off their used appliance batteries at any Aldi stores. Council will advertise when the Wangaratta site is ready and operational.

Soft flexible plastics

Alpine Shire Council is not currently able to collect and recycle soft plastics, such as plastic shopping bags. To reduce the amount of soft plastics in our environment, it is advisable to use reusable shopping bags instead of single-use plastic bags. Reusable shopping bags are available to purchase at many retail outlets including supermarkets.

Most of the supermarkets in the Alpine Shire currently provide designated bins in their foyer for used, clean single-use plastic bags where they are collated and recycled. Please divert these environmentally damaging plastics from landfill by utilising these bins.

E Waste

Electronic Waste other than Televisions and Computers

Electronic waste can be disposed of in a sustainable manner at any one of Council’s three waste and recycling centres.Electronic waste or e-waste can contain a broad range of materials including precious metals (such as gold and platinum), toxic heavy metals, metal circuitry, mixed plastics, fire retardants and glass. The problem of e-waste in Autralia is growing significantly, as we have a fast uptake and turnover of electronica products.E-waste must be kept out of landfills.Drop off points are located at the Myrtleford Landfill and Porepunkah and Mount Beauty Transfer Stations. Almost any electronic goods can be dropped off at any one of these three sites where they will be recycled. Charges apply.

Unwanted Items

Divert waste from our landfills by either:

• dropping your unwanted but reuseable (must be in good condition) goods to a charitable organisation – more widely known as an Opportunity Shop - is a great way to recycle items while helping a great cause at the same time. To find an opportunity or charity store closest to you please go to the Community Directory and search for 'opportunity shops'.

• joining the Alpine Shire Freecycle ™ Network.Freecycle ™ is a non-profit group that aims at keeping things out of landfill. You can either give something a new home or acquire a used item. No money is exchanged. The Freecycle™ network in the Alpine Shire, is an email list open to everyone who wants to ‘recycle’ that something special rather than throw it away. Whether it’s a chair, a fax machine a piano or an old door.Go to www.freecycle.org and put “Alpine Shire’ in the ‘group near you’ box.

All registrations will be given a date, appointment time and location, and the collection process is quick and easy. These days, with the introduction of best practice and environmental management systems, chemical users must make time to regularly sort through their chemical storage and make smart chemical disposal choices. This is an important element in managing risks on farms and within businesses that use pesticides and herbicides, among other chemicals.

ChemClear collects APVMA currently registered chemicals produced by 119 manufacturers supporting the Industry Waste Reduction Scheme. Chemicals classified as Group 1 are collected free-of-charge. A listing of these manufacturers is available on the ChemClear website.

As an additional service, ChemClear also collects Group 2 chemicals. This category covers deregistered, out-of-date, mixed, unlabelled, unknown, or, agvet chemicals produced by a manufacturer not signed to the ChemClear stewardship program.

There is a cost for disposal of Group 2 chemicals, which is quoted to the waste holder once their registration has been processed.

Free Mulch

Free garden mulch is available from Council transfer stations in Porepunkah, Myrtleford and Mount Beauty. ** Due to the popularity of the free mulch, The Transfer Station at Porepunkah has run out, therefore there is currently no available mulch at this site **

Please note the mulch consists of vegetation that has been disposed of by others, so Council has no control over its contents. For this reason you will be asked to sign a disclaimer and then you can take as much as you need – FREE!

Assisted loading is available at specific times only at Myrtleford and Porepunkah. Please contact your local waste facility in advance should you require assistance with loading.

Council is unable to offer the assisted loading service regularly at Mount Beauty. To make up for this, Council provided two days where assisted loading took place where Council staff were on hand in Mount Beauty to load mulch into private vehicles / trailers. This service will be repeated later in the year with dates advertised on Council’s website and Facebook.